Intel showcases Centrino 3: mobile Nehalem at the helm

Intel has just got Centrino 2 out of the door, after delaying the mobile platform by around six weeks due to IGP-related problems.

Now, with Nehalem being the base of the next-generation architecture, the chip giant will be rolling it into server, desktop and mobile CPUs, and Nehalem promises Core 2-beating performance in a chip with the same - or lower - thermal envelope.

The manifestation of Nehalem in mobile form will take place with the Calpella platform - loosely code-named Centrino 3 - and due to debut next year.

Intel showed a Clarksfield validation platform with a 'mobile' Nehalem in situ.

Frequencies weren't discussed but it wouldn't be a reach to say that by this time next year high-end laptops will be equipped with an 8-thread-capable Nehalem mobile CPU with 'next-gen' IGP graphics - even some derivation of Larrabee later on in 2009, perhaps?

Do you need that much power in mobile form? Isn't it just overkill? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

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Doesn't look very portable on the picture (even the heatsink look too big for a mobile platform). Still, there will always be a market for desktop replacement laptops, so no, I don't think mobile a CPU based on the Nehalem is overkill anymore than the i7 is for the desktop. Some people may be better off with an Atom based offering, but the two are different enough that they can co-exist by aiming at different market segments.